The following prior art reflects the state of the art of which applicant is aware and is included herewith to discharge applicant's acknowledged duty to disclose relevant prior art. It is stipulated, however, that none of these references teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention and as particularly claimed.
______________________________________ U.S. PATENTS PATENT NO. ISSUE DATE INVENTOR ______________________________________ 1,065,307 June 17, 1913 Evertts 2,394,265 February 5, 1946 Seamans 2,420,811 May 20, 1947 Brewster, et al. 3,061,351 October 30, 1962 Johnson 3,178,155 April 13, 1965 Bird 3,180,604 April 27, 1965 Hammer 3,240,525 March 15, 1966 Wood 3,659,678 May 2, 1972 Hall, Jr. 3,770,259 November 6, 1973 Wagreich 3,913,964 October 21, 1975 Lukeman 4,214,785 July 29, 1980 Broch 5,042,772 August 27, 1991 Madjeski 5,135,207 August 4, 1992 Bleaney Des. 355,821 February 28, 1995 Kruskamp 5,516,170 May 14, 1996 Kruskamp ______________________________________ FOREIGN PATENTS PATENT NO. ISSUE DATE INVENTOR ______________________________________ EP 0310936 September 29, 1988 Maisch ______________________________________
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,170 discloses a vinyl and carpet kicker having interchangeable face plates so as to enable the tool to be used both in laying carpets and vinyl floor covering. When working with vinyl, a face plate is used having numerous small downwardly directed pyramidal knobs for frictional engagement with the vinyl surface. The knee kicker at the rear of the handle is provided with a wheel to reduce friction as the tool is moved along the vinyl surface. The disclosed tool can be used to smooth and to translate vinyl floor covering sheets subject to the coefficient of friction provided by the knobs. Once the frictional limitation of the device is met, this device is no longer useful. So that, if more stretching is required than this device can frictionally accommodate, necessary smoothing cannot be accomplished.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,207 discloses an apparatus to align a pair of panels such as found in counter-tops. A set of suction cups supported by parallel bars are secured by suction pressure to each panel on opposite sides of the separating gap. A set of lateral screws connects both sets of parallel bars and draws the panels together when tightened.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,240,525 discloses a vacuum device for handling various articles having smooth surfaces such as glass or metal sheets. A handhold is mounted on the pad to attach the pad to a load. A vacuum is created in the pad by means of a vacuum pump mounted within the handhold. A release valve at the end of the handhold can be operated to break the vacuum and release the load.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,155 discloses a carpet stretching tool having a foot piece engaging the carpet to stretch the carpet to engage the perimeter slats at the base of a wall. A toggle jack secured to the wall by a vacuum cup drives the foot piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,061,351 discloses a linoleum removal device wherein one or more static suction cups attached to a lifting handle can be secured to the smooth surface of a linoleum floor to pull it up section by section. The suction cup is provided with a valve which can be depressed to break the vacuum.
The other prior art listed above but not specifically described teach other devices employing suction pads or cups and further catalog the prior art of which the applicant is aware. These references diverge even more starkly from the references specifically distinguished above.